Legislators, not kids, should lead assault weapons ban

Tuesday

Mar 6, 2018 at 11:27 AM

By Tim Travers

I am a retired school administrator, having been Principal of Fredrick Douglass High School in Columbia, as well as a principal and superintendent in international school settings for over 30 years. I am also a gun owner and although I no longer hunt, I support the Department of Conservation's nationwide efforts to promote responsible hunting and responsible gun ownership. I feel I need to voice my opinion about assault weapons availability and gun control, as well as some of my thoughts on school safety.

No hunter or target shooter needs an AR-15 or any other semi-automatic assault weapon that is designed to fire high-powered bullets at a rapid pace. Schools and society, in general, would be better off without assault weapons and easy accessibility to guns in general.

Over the years I have had several instances where weapons, including guns, were brought into my schools by students. Fortunately, these weapons were discovered before any tragedies occurred. Not every school has been so lucky. It is disappointing to me that in the four countries where I have served as a school administrator, only in the U.S. have I had any experiences with guns being brought into schools. I have come to the conclusion that it is easy accessibility to guns, which is the reason for our tragically high statistics for deaths and injuries by gunfire.

In any society, students, parents and faculty should not have to worry about school shootings. Unfortunately, today’s society is not safe and we can’t pretend that U.S. schools are exempt from gun violence as long as there is so much access to assault weapons and guns in general. Although there are many preventative measures that can be taken to make schools safer, adding more guns to the mix by arming teachers and administrators is not one of them. Teachers and administrators have more than enough responsibility teaching our youth, without adding the overwhelming responsibility of carrying a gun.

It is no secret that the U.S. ranks number one in gun accessibility as well as gun violence, compared to every other country in the world. There is a direct correlation between access to guns and gun violence. The U.S. statistics are getting worse by the year. However, with the latest mass school shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, perhaps there is a glimmer of hope that some gun control is on the horizon.

This past week we read that perhaps due to the outrage expressed by the heroic students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, one major sporting goods retailer, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., is stopping the sale of assault weapons and raising the age limit for buying all guns to 21 years of age. Walmart also raised the age limit for buying a gun to 21 years of age, having previously stopped the practice of selling assault weapons three years ago. Some other corporations are pulling support from the NRA. These seem like moderate steps that may influence other retail gun stores and corporations to follow suit. The big question is why are the high school students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and corporations having to lead the way on gun control instead of our legislators who are elected to pass laws that are supposed to be in the best interest of those for whom they serve? Although some legislators are doing their best, it is inexcusable that all of our legislators are not leading the way with legislation that would at the very least take the assault weapons off the streets and make buying a gun more restrictive.

Not surprisingly, major contributors to the NRA are gun manufacturers and companies that sell guns. Certain legislators need to stop taking money from an organization that continues to lobby for the sale of assault weapons and promotes additional guns in our society. The NRA is not working in our best interest but in the interest of making profits for the gun industry at the ordinary U.S. citizen’s expense. We should not be blind to our own state of Missouri. It is an embarrassment to discover that out of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate, that Sen. Roy Blunt ranks third in taking money from the NRA, receiving $4.55 million.

It is a despicable manipulation for the NRA to profess that the rights as U.S. citizens are being infringed upon if assault weapons are taken out of circulation. The truth is that because of the availability of assault weapons and guns in general, our rights as citizens are being infringed upon when we can’t even educate our kids without the worry of an individual armed with an assault weapon coming into our school and killing and injuring students and faculty.

There has to be some reasonable balance restricting the weapons that are available to the masses. Our politicians need to stop taking money from the NRA and work for the citizens that elected them and pass some laws that will make us safer by banning assault weapons and limiting the availability of guns in general.

Tim Travers is a retired school administrator.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.